EU Reject US, France Warns Ukraine To Make Peace Quickly | Zelensky | Macron | Russia Ukraine War Despite the persistent aggression displayed by Ukraine, it appears that Zelensky's backers want to meet with Putin for negotiations. France has now entered the fray after senior US officials placed the burden of maintaining peace on Ukraine. Paris has taken the initiative and declared that it will consider all options for putting an end to the conflict. Is Zelensky struggling to maintain its friends' enthusiasm? View to learn more.
— The war in Ukraine has confirmed the validity of some European countries’ approach to Russia and their own defence. Poland can now feel vindicated in its longstanding distrust of Russia, as well as its insistence on the crucial role of the United States for European security. Meanwhile, Germany’s pre-2022 hope to convert Russia into a reliable partner through economic interdependence has turned out to be a pipe dream – pushing Chancellor Olaf Scholz to announce a German U-turn that includes a major rise in military spending and diversification of energy imports. For other member states, however, things are not as clear cut. France is an especially striking and important example. The war just outside the European Union’s borders demonstrates the need to beef up the continent’s military capabilities – something which President Emmanuel Macron has advocated since 2017. Indeed, nuclear-capable France – with the most powerful military in the EU, a thriving defence industry, a security partnership with the United Kingdom, and a seat at the UN Security Council – has the best credentials to lead such a project. On other major questions of European security, one may note that France imported little gas from Russia, having taken the decision to expand generation of nuclear energy following the ‘oil shock’ of the 1970s. So, the war has likely helped Paris feel doubly justified: in its calls for Europe’s strategic autonomy over the years and in the value it has long placed on energy security .
The problem is that – looking in from Warsaw, Tallin, or Stockholm – France has in fact been proved doubly wrong. Firstly, Paris underestimated Washington’s commitment to, and indispensability for, European security, with the United States’ outsize role in providing support for Ukraine this year casting doubt on the idea that Europe could ever become strategically autonomous of the US. Secondly, France has long seemed too eager to engage with Russia – after the latter’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and even since its all-out invasion of Ukraine this year. The memory of Macron’s musings in 2019 about the “brain death” of NATO, and his Brégançon meeting with Vladimir Putin the same year deepen this underlying distrust of France for many policymakers in eastern and northern Europe. their current suspicions of France’s appeasement temptations come as no surprise. Russia Ukraine War | Russia Ukraine Conflict | Russia Ukraine Peace Talks | France | USA | Emmanuel Macron | Sebastien Lecornu | Joe Biden | Latest News | Firstpost #russiaukrainewar #france #usa #peacetalks #russiaukrainepeace #macron #biden #sebastienlecornu #frenchgovernment #europe #latestnews #firstpost | n18oc_world